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I've experimented with taking anti-anxiety pills for my needle phobia; I started out with normal doses, but when those had no effect on the actual experience I increased the dose until it worked (3x) Problem was, those doses were high enough to make me lose memory.

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not a drug, but cognitive behavioral therapy has been proven to be effective for both chronic and acute anxiety

Aella

@Aella_Girl

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@lawrence_tuchik

but for needle phobia, specifically? I get vasovagal reflex, and my phobia is genetic (my dad has it, and it hit me with no cause at age 16)

5:59 PM · Jul 19, 2022

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and

I had the same problem and finally brought it up to a therapist. He told me it's the simplest thing to fix - you just clench and unclench all your muscles during the procedure (keeps the blood flowing to your brain). It works!

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and

You could roll your own graduated exposure routine and see if you’re responding at all pretty quickly. For any specific phobia it’s def worth a shot

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genetic ≠ untreatable genetic = causation at default state only

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and

Maybe you’ve done this, but I get the same vasovagal response and was able to limit it to one in maybe five needle interactions by making sure I’m laying completely flat while having blood drawn/getting the injection instead of sitting up.